Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 3

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by Media Factory. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

Given how many of the villains were dispatched in the last book, it should come as no surprise to find that Elisabeth and Kaito finish off her task by the end of this book. The twelve villains she was ordered by the Church to destroy are, more or less, destroyed. Of course, that means that it’s her turn to be executed next. And therefore this is the final volume. Bye, everyone!… wait, no, of course it isn’t. There’s always an out, and the author is now describing the book as the end of the first arc. But what do you do when you’ve killed off the bad guys? Simple, have ma new bad guy for everyone to fear, twice as mean and terrifying, and set Elisabeth out to destroy him! Of course, there is one slight problem, which is who the villain actually is. (It should not be hard to figure this out.) It’s a very clever and also very foolish plot.

This book takes place in the capitol, and as such the cast expands greatly, though really there’s only one name we need to remember. The various knights and paladins of the church are doing their best, but in the end this is something that mercy and compassion are a bad fit for. Izabella in particular is so pure and shiny that she no doubt will be a powerful antagonist in future volumes (she’s the name to remember). In case you were worried that there would not be descriptions of horrific graphical body horror, torture and fates worse than death, fear not, they’re here in abundance – one featuring a children’s theater was particularly horrible. But then you get a fantastic line of dialogue, or an evocative description, or even just Elisabeth briefly turning into Teru from Dengeki Daisy and demanding Kaito go bald, there’s always a new element to remind you why you’re reading this series. (If you are reading this series just for the gore, good for you, and also you may want to visit some other blog.)

And then there’s Hina, who is only in one or two scenes in the book, but they’re so memorable they threaten to overshadow everything else. (That said, props to “The Butcher”, who remains ridiculous in the extreme.) Still in a coma for the majority of the book, she literally dive bombs into the final battle, declaring her love for Kaito as loud as a ball-jointed doll possibly can, and their reunion is actually really sweet. What follows is also the funniest point of the book, where Hina says she loves him even though they can’t have kids, and Elisabeth explains how they CAN have kids – even if the act she’s describing makes her blush. As I said in the other reviews, fans of Rem from Re: ZERO may as well start reading this, because you’re not getting more of her in the main series right now and this Rem actually gets the guy.

And so, at the end of the book, Elisabeth sets out to execute this new villain, Kaito and Hina are reunited and possibly making babies (though I doubt it, honestly), and Torture Princess remains a fantastic read, despite all the gore and torture. For those with strong stomachs, absolutely recommended.

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 2

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

This very much feels like the 2nd part of a two-parter, and in fact I think a re-release of the series in Japan saw these two grouped as a single novel. It picks up right where the first one left off, and sometimes that can be a problem, as Altina still has a broken arm, which makes swordfighting difficult. Unfortunately, the plot is not going to wait for her to recover. There are barbarians at the gate – literally – and Regis has to come up with a plan to solve that. The Empire has sent a couple of evil inspectors to see how things are going/sabotage Regis and Altina. What’s more, they’ve been given an impossible order, to attack one of the best defended forts in the area and emerge victorious. In other words, they’re being sent off to die. Of course, there’s an easy way to get around that. They just have to win against the impregnable fortress. Easy-peasy.

Again, the series succeeds best due to its two very likeable leads. Altina is a young, impetuous princess who nevertheless has a really good head on her shoulders, does not believe in needless killing, and knows exactly what she’s fighting for. Her speech to the soldiers as they’re about to storm the fort is fantastic, and reminds you how important the right motivation can be. As for Regis, he remains very clever and very self-deprecating – it takes moving mountains to get this man to admit that he was responsible for something good happening. He also has his amusing flaw, which is his love of books, and that leads to some excellent banter between him and Altina. They’re clearly intended to be a couple in then future, but the author has quite rightly decided not to rush things, which is fine.

There is an attempted rape in this book, from one of the evil inspectors, I will warn people. I do wish that this was not a common “show they’re evil by having them do this” plot. In addition, at the end one of the maids tries to force herself on the suddenly popular and single Regis, and that’s just as bad. Other than that, however, the book is relatively free of all the fanservice-laden exploits you might see in, oh, one of the author’s other licensed series. We also meet Eric, a young soldier who is devastatingly handsome, devastatingly earnest, and who I suspect I should be using gender-neutral pronouns in describing them, as they seem to be hiding a secret (which would be less obvious if the author hadn’t gone “did you spot that? Hmm? Hmm?” in the afterword). He makes a nice change from the rest of the soldiers, who are more like the grumpy Jerome, who seems to get constantly angry at whatever Altina and Regis do but then does it anyway.

Next time Altina will be headed back home to meet the family, and I suspect political intrigue will follow. Till then, enjoy this nice, breezy read.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 14

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

This is definitely a stronger volume than the previous one. It starts off by slowly removing all of Kojou’s allies, which gives a nice feeling of impending doom. Asagi is supposedly helping with the rebuilding the island needs by being… a pop idol, but anyone who’s met Asagi knows this is fake. In reality, she’s being held hostage. So is Motoki, who is recovering from his grievous wounds from last time, and thus can’t put up much of a fight when he’s used in a corporate struggle. And even Yukina ends up being a liability when, due to the various events that have been happening since the start and her own superweapon, she’s now turning into a faux-Angel, just like Kanon was. Fortunately, Kojou still has his own typical battle plan, which is use his Beast Vassals, see them fail, get nearly killed, and drink someone’s blood to power up. So far it’s been a sound strategy. Of course, there’s a little catch here.

The subtitle for this volume is Golden Days, which is how Yukina views her time here with Kojou. Leaving aside her romantic feelings for him, this is the closest thing she’s ever had to a normal life, something that Sayaka and Yukina’s mentor Yukari both point out. Yukina’s past has been shown to us on occasion in bits, and we certainly have no doubt that this is true. As such, despite his good intentions, when Kojou readily accepts that, in order not to be turned into a faux-Angel, she’ll never be able to see or help him again, she is very quick to reject this. It’s a lot of good, solid scenes. As for the solution to the problem… well, it’s sort of a macguffin, really, but I suppose we could do worse. While “fiancee” may be a bit much (mostly as it would require Kojou to admit to actually having romantic feelings for a girl without another one beating him up), certainly they’re much closer after this, and Yukina can stick around.

There were a few things I wasn’t as thrilled with. As ever, Strike the Blood’s attempts at humor are terrible, and the whole “this isn’t really a pregnancy test but” joke, even with it signposted a mile away, still made me roll my eyes. Asagi’s skills are shown off here, but – as she herself is quick to point out – all she did was sit around for two weeks. I like books that are more Asagi-heavy. And of course, despite having stronger scenes in general, the overall plot of this book is remarkably similar to about five or six others in this series – I’ve joked before about it being written by an AI, and the joke still holds up. It is designed to be made into an anime. I like the characters, but, except for Yukina a bit here, they simply don’t have the depth to elevate this series above “satisfactory”.

Still, satisfactory is not bad, and this book should please those who enjoy Strike the Blood, particularly Yukina fans, which I’m sure there must be one or two of. Next time we get the “end of Part One” of the series, but I’ll believe it when I see it, to be honest.